Lemon and Cilantro Rice

I think it was about three years ago, I volunteered to bring Mexican rice to a party on my husband’s side. Sure, there’s nothing to it I thought. It’s only rice. I’ve made Mexican rice plenty of times, so this should be a piece of cake, right? Yeah, no. It wasn’t.

In my head, I figured two cups of rice is plenty for a family of four, so if there are going to be at least four families at this party, then I should make 8 cups of rice. Made sense to me! What I neglected to calculate, was the size of the pot I should use for 16 cups of water, and the fact that that much rice will more than double.

So there I am, toasting my rice, happy to be contributing to the menu.

I pour the water, seasoning, and tomato sauce in. Stir…cover…and walk away. I come back 15 minutes later and OMG!!!!! The rice isn’t close to being done and it’s about to reach the rim of the pot. Crap! So then I start to tell myself….it’s too soon anyway, just wait, give it more time, it needs more time. So I walk away again. Another 15 minutes later I return…nope. CRAP!

Thinking there’s still hope, I move it all into a bigger pot in hopes that it will finish cooking.

BIG MISTAKE!

The realization that this rice was now a disaster, came with each scoop as I transfered it into the bigger pot. It began with a little bit of hope, and ended in tragedy. Cooked rice on the outside, completely raw in the middle, and no flavor or color at the bottom. In the end, I had a big ass pot of cooked red, soggy light pink, and raw white rice. In one pot.

All I kept saying to myself was…ay EStephanie, what were you thinking?!

Needless to say, the rice didn’t make it to the party that day. Oh, and I also got laughed at by the women at the party when I told them what happened. My husband still makes fun of me to this day, we both just laugh about it. In the end, I learned a valuable lesson that day. NEVER EVER make 8 cups of rice in a 6 quart pot. What a silly goose.

Since then, I’ve gotten better at small batches of rice. Like the one I’m sharing today!

A Lemon and Cilantro white rice, steamed to perfection.

You might have noticed there’s no salt in the ingredients. That’s because I used the same Maggi bouillon seasoning that I used in the smoked ribs recipe a while back. It has become my favorite choice of bouillon for rice because it has enough flavor to omit salt all together.

Have everything ready to go when you start making it because you won’t have to toast the rice for this recipe.

Chop the cilantro, mince the garlic and scallion.

In a medium pan (I used a 10″) on medium heat, warm the butter just to start melting it.

Add the scallion, garlic, cilantro, Maggi bouillon…

…and the lemon juice. Stir it all together well until the bouillon has completely dissolved.

Add the rice.

Stir everything well.

Add all the water.

Stir it well to remove any rice clumps.

Cover completely and leave it alone. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat to LOW. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID. Let it cook covered for at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, quickly take a small spoonful of the rice and taste it to check its texture. When you take off the lid for this, try not to remove the lid completely. You want to keep as much of the steam in the pan as possible. Open it just enough to stick the spoon in there and take a little to taste, then close it right back up. If the rice has a slight crunch still, continue to cook another 3 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest 10 minutes covered before serving.

After ten minutes, fluff the rice with a fork just before serving.

At this point, you can add a light splash of fresh lemon juice and dash of salt if you want, but I think it’s just fine the way it is.

Lemon and Cilantro Rice

Ingredients

1 1/2tbspunsalted butter

1scallionminced

1garlic cloveminced

1/2cupcilantrochopped

2tspMaggi bouillon

1 1/2tbsplemon juice

1 1/2cupslong grain white rice

2cupswater

Instructions

In a medium pan (I used a 10″) on medium heat, warm the butter just to start melting it. Add the scallion, garlic, cilantro, Maggi bouillon and the lemon juice. Stir it all together well until the bouillon has completely dissolved.

Add the rice, stir everything well, then add all the water and stir well to remove any clumps of rice. Cover completely and leave it alone.

As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat to LOW. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID. Let it cook covered for at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, quickly take a small spoonful of the rice and taste it to check its texture. When you take off the lid for this, try not to remove the lid completely. You want to keep as much of the steam in the pan as possible. Open it just enough to stick the spoon in there and take a little to taste, then close it right back up. If the rice has a slight crunch to the bite, continue to cook another three minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest 10 minutes covered before serving.

4 comments

Hi. I have to say….this looks sooooo good! I’m a huge rice 8liver and add lemon and lime to it always so yay! And also I enjoyed reading your post because I still to this day make my rice 2 cups at a time… lol. My entire family does. If it’s for dinner, a party, or girl….even if it’s for a wedding…lol we make it 2 cups at a time…lol. thanks for the laugh.

Stay Connected!

Recent Posts

Affiliate Disclosure

Spanglish Spoon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com.